Capitals of the Dark Continent Quiz

Answer: Cape Town

Cape Town is one of three capital cities of the Republic of South Africa, the other two being Pretoria and Bloemfontein. It is the legislative capital and the home of the Houses of Parliament. It is known as the country's "mother city" as it is both the oldest city and the first European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town lies nestled between the steep slopes of Table Mountain, one of the new seven natural wonders of the world, and the shores of Table Bay at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Jan van Riebeeck and settlers from the Dutch East India Company who, in 1652 established a refreshment station to replenish the company's trading ships. They constructed a fort, which is today known as the Castle of Good Hope, and started a town. Remnants of the protective hedge planted by these settlers can still be seen today in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens which lie at the eastern foot of Table Mountain. Control of the settlement shifted between the Dutch and the British until 1814 when it was permanently ceded to Britain and became the Cape Colony. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was formed which united the Cape Colony with the colony of Natal and the two former Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State. As a compromise, three capitals were named and these remained in place when South Africa became a republic on 31 May 1961.

Today, Cape Town is the second largest city in the country, after Johannesburg, and is home to over three million people. It also serves as the capital of the country's Western Province. The city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country with a host of sights including Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was infamously imprisoned for 27 years and which is now a museum.

Answer: Tunis

Carthage was the great ancient city first established by the Phoenicians in 814BC, captured by the Romans in 146BC and ruled by them for nearly 700 years. Its remains are today part of a wealthy seaside suburb of Tunis, the capital of the north African nation of the Republic of Tunisia. Tunis lies nestled in the Gulf of Tunis, a bay of the Mediterranean Sea on the north east coast of the country. The strategic location of this area has long been recognized and prized and the city has undergone many changes of fortune and rule during the millennia, being destroyed and rebuilt on numerous occasions.

Tunis is a contrast of the new and the old, being divided into two distinct districts; the ancient Medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was one of the great Islamic cities of the region and which now which lies at the heart of the city, and the Ville Nouvelle, the modern city built under French rule from 1881 to 1956. When Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956, Tunis was named as the capital and it is the economic, cultural and administrative hub of the country. It has a number of attractions for the visitor including the Souq Birka (Gold Market), the Bab-el-Bahr or Sea Gate which is the boundary between the old and new sections and, of course, the remains of Carthage, one of the truly great cities of the ancient world.

Answer: Antananarivo

Antananarivo, or Tana as it is usually known, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Madagascar, the island nation that lies in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. The name, in the local Malagasy language, means "Town of a Thousand". It commemorates the 1000 soldiers and their families who were sent to guard the newly built fort and town established by King Adrianjaka of the Merina people somewhere between 1610 and 1630. Antananarivo is situated in the central highlands of the island of Madagascar some 90 kilometres from the east coast and is built on a series of hills. The benefit of this elevated position is twofold in that the plateau provided a site which was easier to defend and the height above sea-level moderates the tropical climate of the lower climes. In 1895 the island was conquered by the French who changed the name to "Tananarive". They also restructured most of the city while keeping the original royal palace complexes. Today the city is known for its colourful and eclectic architecture. On independence in 1960, Tana became the capital of the new republic and in 1972 the name was changed back to Antananarivo.

The city is divided into two distinct districts, Upper Town and Lower Town with the Rova, the original fortified palace complex of the Merina kings, occupying the highest point in the city. To the south of the city is the heart shaped artificial lake, Lac Anosy. Antananarivo is the political, cultural and economic centre of the nation and is home to over 1.5 million people. The city's Tsimbazaza Botanical and Zoological Garden is often the first taste visitors get of Madagascar's unique flora and fauna.

Answer: Accra

Along a 550 kilometre stretch of what is now the coastline of Ghana, lie the "slave castles" that were built by various European powers during the height of the slave trade. Three of these, and the settlements that grew up around them, now form the heart of what is modern Accra, the capital and largest city in the Republic of Ghana. They are Fort James and Jamestown built by the British, Osu near the Danish Christianborg Fort and Ussherstown near the Dutch Fort Crevecoeur later named Fort Ussher. Accra lies on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean on Africa's west coast and in the south of the country. It was first settled by the local Ga people who established a fishing village on the site. With the arrival of the Portuguese in 1482, the European settlement of the area began as they established trading posts to handle two valuable commodities, gold and slaves. By 1871 the British had assumed full control of the area and in 1876, Accra was named capital of the British Gold Coast Colony. Under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana became the first sub-saharan country to gain independence on 06 March 1957. Accra remained as the new nation's capital.

The name Accra comes from the local Akan word "nkran" which means "ants". This is a reference to the black soldier ants which abound in the area. Today, Accra is a vibrant modern city that is home to over five million people and which is the economic and administrative centre of Ghana. In 2020 it was designated as a "Gamma" level global city by the prestigious Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) to reflect its growth and influence globally.

Answer: Lilongwe

In 1975 Lilongwe replaced Zomba as the capital city of the Republic of Malawi, thanks to its central location in this narrow, landlocked country. That, and the foresight of its former President, Hastings Banda, who ruled the country from its independence in 1964 until 1994. It certainly didn't hurt its cause that Banda was born just north of Lilongwe. Lilongwe is located in a shallow valley on a plateau at an altitude of 1,050 metres above sea level on the banks of the Lilongwe River after which it is named. It began as a fishing village. Its central location, which gave easy access, gained favour with the ruling British colonial administrators of the colony of Nyasaland. In 1904 it was designated a colonial district headquarters although Zomba, situated in the south, remained the administrative capital. A year after independence which occurred on 06 July 1964, Banda identified Lilongwe as an "economic growth point" and the development of the new capital began in 1968. It did, however, take the Malawian government another nineteen years to finally move to the new capital.

Modern Lilongwe is divided into two distinct districts, the Old Town and the Capital City. The Old City retains the atmosphere and look of a traditional African village and is filled with bars, restaurants, small shops and markets including the Walled Market which is one of the largest in the country. The Capital City, as its name suggests, is the newer, more serious side of Lilongwe and houses government buildings, embassies, offices and banks.

Answer: Dakar

Dakar, the capital city of the Republic of Senegal, is situated on the Cape Verde Peninsula, a triangle shaped spit of land jutting into the Atlantic Ocean that is the westernmost point on the African mainland. The area was first settled around the 15th century by the local Lebu people. The origin of the name Dakar is uncertain, but the prevailing theory is that it comes from the Wolof language, either the word "deuk raw" which means "whoever settles here will be in peace" or the word "dakhar" which is the name given to the tamarind tree which once grew in profusion in the area. In 1857 the French annexed the area and the city began to grow. In 1902 it became the seat of the Government General of French West Africa. Upon the independence of Senegal from France in 1960, Dakar was designated the capital city, first of the short lived Mali Federation and then, in 1961, of the Republic of Senegal.

The skyline of Dakar is characterized by twin volcanic cones, the "Collines de Mamelles" or "Twin Teats". One of the cones is topped by the Mamelles Lighthouse and the other by the tallest statue in Africa, the 52 metre high African Renaissance Monument. Nestled in the bay below the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Island of Goree which is also known as the Island of Tears. The island was a major slave trading hub from the time of the first settlement by the Portuguese in 1444 until the abolition of the slave trade. Dakar is now a major financial centre in West Africa and is home to the Central Bank of West African States, the organization that manages the CFA franc.

Answer: Port Louis

Port Louis is the capital of the Republic of Mauritius, the island nation that lies about 2000 kilometres off the south east coast of Africa. It nestles between the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mountains on the north west coast of the main island of Mauritius. Port Louis started out life as a Dutch settlement called Noordt Wester Haven in the 17th century. However, it was not until the arrival of the French in 1735 that the city's development started. It was named after the French king of the time, Louis XV. Its location had great strategic value and in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, it was occupied by the British. In 1814, all Mauritian territories were ceded by France to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. When Mauritius gained its independence from Britain in 1968, Port Louis was designated its capital city.

The city is home to a number of attractions, not least of which is the National Botanical Garden of Mauritius which is named after Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolaam, the country's first Prime Minister. This garden was established in 1770 which makes it the oldest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere and it is famous for its pond of giant water lilies. Today Port Louis is also the centre of Mauritius's important financial services industry.

Answer: Maputo

Maputo is the capital of the Republic of Mozambique which lies along the south east coast of Africa, on the Indian Ocean. Maputo is located in the south of the country on the western shore of Maputo Bay on the northern bank of the Esturia do Esprito Santo, an estuary that leads into the bay. A small fishing village occupied the site until the Europeans came exploring. The first to arrive in 1544 was Lourenco Marques, a Portuguese navigator, who explored the area and named it Delagoa Bay. Control of the area fluctuated between the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British until 1781 when the Portuguese took over. In 1787 they established a fort and the town that grew up around it was named Lourenco Marques after the navigator. This remained the name even when Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal on 25 June 1975 after a long and bloody war.

On 03 February 1976, the new nation's first president, Samora, announced that the capital would henceforth be known as Maputo after the Maputo River which forms the country's southern border with South Africa. The reasoning behind this choice lies in the independence slogan "Viva Moambique unido do Rovuma ao Maputo", which translates to "long-live the united Mozambique from Rovuma to Maputo", the Rovuma River marking the northern border with Tanzania. Today Maputo is the country's largest city with a population of over one million people and is the economic and financial centre of the country. The old town is known as the "baixa" and is the vibrant heart of the city with markets, restaurants and museums.

Answer: Kigali

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, the "Land of a Thousand Hills", the landlocked country that lies in the Great Rift Valley of central Africa. As its country's nickname suggests, Kigali is built over several hills between Mount Kigali, from which it take its name, and Mount Jali in the central region of the country. Although Kigali was only officially established by the Germans in 1907, pre-colonial Kigali was the home of the "Bami", the kings of the region. The explanation of its name varies somewhat depending which source you read, but the most accepted version is that it was named after Mount Kigali whose name means broad or wide. When Rwanda gained its independence on 1 July 1962, Kigali was named its capital. Its central location and good transport links ensured that it grew steadily. That was until the genocide of 1994 when large swathes of the city was destroyed.

Since the end of the conflict, Kigali has seen an intense period of re-building with the emphasis on cleanliness and security and it has mushroomed into a city of over two million inhabitants. It is considered to be one of the "greenest" cities in the world and, in 2008, was honoured by the United Nations with its Habitat Scroll of Honour award in recognition of the efforts it has made towards sustainability. It is now one of the most important economic hubs of the region.

Answer: Khartoum

The name Khartoum means "elephant's trunk" in Arabic. It describes the shape of the Nile River at the point where its two major tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, come together to form a single river which flows northward to Egypt. For such a strategic location, the capital of the Republic of Sudan actually has quite a short history. Prior to 1921 and the Turko-Egyptian conquest of the region, the small peninsula where the two rivers meet was a sleepy fishing village known as "Moqram-al-Nilayn" (the confluence). The leader of the conquerors, Mohammed Ali Pasha, recognised the importance of the site and built a fort. This was the birth of modern day Khartoum. It underwent several changes as the balance of power in the region shifted, but after the British-Egyptian forces regained control in 1898, the city was redesigned by General H.H. Kitchener and in 1930 was designated the political centre of Egyptian Sudan. When Sudan gained its independence from Britain in 1956, Khartoum was named the capital city.

Between 1960 and 1990, the population of Khartoum exploded and the city grew to over one million inhabitants. Khartoum is a conurbation of three cities, Khartoum proper (as it's known) and two sister cities, Khartoum Bahri (north) and Omdurman, all linked by bridges. Today this metropolitan area is home to over five million people and is the economic and trade centre of the country and one of the most important in North Africa.